Sensational Foods That Dare You to Gain Weight

First, keep in mind there’s no such thing as a food that has no calories. As you know, a calorie is a unit of heat and all foods have them. So what is a negative calorie food? This refers to a food with a calorie level that’s low – low enough that you will use more energy to and digest it than the food contains. Now, you would expect a list of such foods to contain all the bummers. Right? Wrong!! Look at the list at the bottom of the page and you’ll find quite a few reminders of very pleasant eating.

Let’s look, for instance, at water. Water is a food. It contains no calories. If you drink a glass of cold water it becomes a negative calorie food because the body has to expend energy to bring it up to blood temperature. That’s an exceptionally easy way to burn some calories and lose a little weight. Unfortunately there aren’t many foods like this. Most of those listed do not really use more calories than they add. Of if they do add calories the effect is negligible. Really negligible because at the same time of eating the body has to expend energy just to keep alive and breathing. Celery is an excellent example of a food that doesn’t provide enough calories to cover both the energy that it takes to digest it plus the energy expended even when we are doing nothing. So that is why people call it a negative calorie food.

Negative calorie foods are exceptionally attractive to anorexics though this is highly deception in the long term. An anorexic gorging on a negative calorie diet would soon starve and long-term nutritional deficiencies might occur surprisingly quickly. The calories burned by anorexics eating negative calorie foods almost always comes from muscle mass; the result on their bodies is debility and wasting.

A healthier way to use and enjoy a negative calorie diet is as a form of fasting or detox. This can be done for one to three days right after the Christmas season or some other time when you’ve been lured by wonderful seasonal foods to eat an over-rich diet. So long as you’re otherwise healthy engaging in a negative calorie diet can give you a great way to clean out the system. However it’s best to seek medical advice before attempting this.

The following points should be kept in mind if you decide upon a negative calorie detox. Bear in mind that not even a negative calorie diet is free of restrictions!

1. Don’t eat large quantities of just one food, especially fruit. Many foods can be damaging to your system if consumed to excess. For example, the acid in grapefruit and pineapple can damage your stomach lining. Other foods put too much pressure on your liver or they may cause diarrhea. The answer is to use all the different foods listed in small quantities.
2. You don’t want to spend a lot of time eating in order to avoid becoming bloated and feeling sick. If your plan is to follow a negative calorie diet for two or three days, you should not feel hungry. Instead, plan to eat four or five time.
3. Eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly thereby using more calories. And when the foods don’t require cooking, don’t hesitate to eat them raw. Experts insist that foods like carrots and beets will also be more satisfying if you eat them grated.
4. Preferably, plan to follow this diet when you don’t have any important commitments. In fasting or detox it is not uncommon to suffer some uncomfortable symptoms (e.g., including headaches, fatigue, depression and irritability). Always stop the diet and see a doctor if these become severe.
5. Return gradually to normal eating when you are finished with the detox.

The list of negative-calorie foods includes:

• Apples
• Asparagus
• Beets
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Cantaloupes
• Carrot
• Cauliflower
• Celery stalk
• Celery root
• Cranberries
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Endives
• Garden cress
• Garlic
• Grapefruit
• Green beans
• Green cabbage
• Lamb's lettuce
• Lemons
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Papayas
• Pineapples
• Prunes
• Radishes
• Raspberries
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Tangerines
• Tomatoes
• Turnips
• Zucchini

Remember to use these foods in accordance with the guidelines preceding the list.